Geoff Smith

Geoffrey Smith (14 March 1928 – 19 October 2013) was an English professional footballer who played 253 league games for Bradford City as a goalkeeper, including 200 consecutive appearances. When he retired, he held club records for the number of clean sheets in a season and total clean sheets.

Smith was born in Cottingley, Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, moved to nearby Keighley with his family before serving in Malaya in the British Army at the end of his teens. His first trial at Bradford City was unsuccessful but after playing amateur football for Lancashire Combination League sides Nelson and Rossendale United, he was signed by Bradford's new manager Ivor Powell in 1952. He was at Bradford City for seven seasons and played in every league game between the final match of the 1953–54 season and October 1958. He eventually retired in 1959. After his football career, Smith and his wife ran two different off-licences for the remainder of their working life.

Early life Smith was born in Cottingley on the outskirts of Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, on 14 March 1928. He had a brother Jack and during their childhood, the Smith family moved to Keighley, where Smith first played football for St Anne's Church. At the age of 18, Smith was called up to the army. He served in an infantry unit in Malaya for two years before he returned to Keighley. Instead, Smith joined Lancashire Combination League side Nelson. However, Smith initially gave up the game when Nelson could no longer afford to pay him. He was not long out of the game before he signed Rossendale United, a member of the Lancashire Combination's Second Division. Smith said the journey by bus was a difficult one so he bought a motorbike. However, like Nelson, Rossendale could not afford to pay him, and after another two years, Smith gave up the game once again. and kept his place in the side for the remainder of the season, playing 19 games, before he signed part-time professional terms in July 1953. He remained in the side and played all but two games for the rest of the season, coming back into the team for the final league game of the season against Gateshead as City finished fifth. during which they conceded just one goal. However, for three seasons, City could not match the fifth place gained in 1953–54 and they remained a Third Division North side. In 1957–58, under Powell's replacement as manager Peter Jackson, City finished in third place but missed out on the title by nine points to Scunthorpe United. During the season, Smith set a new club record of 18 clean sheets, one which was later equalled by Steve Smith and Eric McManus. Smith's number of consecutive appearances is third on the club's list behind Mulholland's 231 games and Charlie Bicknell. He played 26 further games in the 1958–59 season, When Smith retired, the club granted him and Mulholland each a sum of money rather than the proceeds of a benefit match. Smith had been a motor mechanic before his football career, and after he retired from playing, he and his wife ran an off-licence store in Cross Roads for 25 years and a newsagents in Keighley for another five years. Smith played bowls and golf in his retirement,

Smith died on 19 October 2013.

Career statistics